It Looks Like We Are Spending Way Too Much To Get Much Too Little With The PCEHR.

This appeared a few days ago.

Wales rolls-out patient portal

8 July 2015   Thomas Meek

Wales is nearing the complete roll-out of its My Health Online portal for online bookings and repeat prescriptions.

In its latest newsletter, the NHS Wales Informatics Service says the service needs to be implemented at one more GP practice in the Aneurin Bevan Health Board area and this will occur within the month.

Once completed, My Health Online will be live at all 458 GP practices in Wales, offering patients the opportunity do a variety of health-related tasks online, including booking appointments and ordering prescriptions. 

NHS Wales Informatics Service said that more than 130,000 patients have registered for My Health Online and that interest in both the ability to book appointments and order prescriptions is “growing.”

The service, which is available in both English and Welsh, was launched in 2011 backed by £1.7 million of funding from the Welsh Assembly Government.

The first practices to sign up were using patient record systems from Emis and INPS. The service has since been extended to work with other system suppliers iSoft and Advanced Health and Care.

In addition to using the service to book appointments and order prescriptions, patients can update general details, such as their address and get access to advice and information on managing health conditions.

More good news here:

http://www.digitalhealth.net/news/EHI/10121/wales-rolls-out-patient-portal/

What a wonderful story. For a few million dollars the people of Wales seem to be getting a portal which will do much more than the PCEHR, providing functionality  that we know people want (prescription repeats, appointments etc.) as well as giving access to patient details and records.

Yet again it is hard to argue the Australian Public has been given either a cost effective or useful system for a quite an absurd amount of money.

If we can have Royal Commissions on Pink Bats and Unions what about one on the last decade of Public E-Health in Australia - billions have been spent and it is hard to know what we really have received for it! Not much I can see!

David.

2016 Budget - Financial Chaos Emerges And The Lead Economic Ministers Are All AWOL!

July 16 Edition

Budget Night was May 12, 2015. We now await economic data reporting how successful it was.

Parliament has risen so we are in for a few quiet weeks.

Sadly, while Mr Abbott focusses on the Grocery Retailing Code Of Conduct (see Insiders on ABC1 this week), we are seeing a range of Global Financial Issues coming from Europe and China which the Grattan Institute and The Australia Instituteare suggesting - among other things - might cause considerable economic pain.

Update July 16, 2015.

Anyone who thinks the issues in Greece and China are resolved is smoking something I want more of. The Chinese have lost it and Greece has been so severely raped and pillaged that a return round of issues are inevitable (They are broke and someone in power needs to admit it!) - mark my words!

Concern about the Budget would seem to be growing. See here:

https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2015/07/11/the-governments-142-billion-budget-fantasy-sell-election/14365368002114#.VaGysvn3SGc

Jul 11, 2015

The government's $14.2 billion budget fantasy to sell an election

Mike Seccombe

While the government is looking for any distraction it can find from the economy, it is banking on unlegislated budget cuts hidden beyond the next election.

Treasurer Joe Hockey confers with Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott calls it a “very clear commitment”. Richard Denniss, chief economist of progressive think tank The Australia Institute, calls it an “outrageous lie”.

Whatever you call it, it represents a big loss for people who can ill afford it.

We’re talking about Abbott’s oft-repeated recent assertion that there would be “no adverse changes in superannuation under this government in this parliament”.

Denniss says, quite correctly, that Abbott in fact promised quite the opposite before the 2013 election: that he would make adverse changes to superannuation. “What’s more,” Denniss says, “he passed them.”

Denniss is referring to a worthy initiative called the Low Income Superannuation Contribution scheme, under which lowly paid workers – those earning less than $37,000 – currently have their super contributions modestly supplemented by up to $500 a year.

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Here is some other of the recent other news and analysis.

General Budget Issues.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/business/tony-abbotts-2015-budget-sees-massive-drop-in-voters-worried-about-their-finances/story-fnhld3wp-1227429526188

Tony Abbott’s 2015 Budget sees massive drop in voters worried about their finances

July 5, 2015 6:27pm

John Rolfe News Corp Australia Network

OF ALL the analysis to emerge since the Abbott Government’s second Budget, this is perhaps the most telling politically and economically — new research showing a huge drop in the number of households left feeling worse off.

As the Coalition attempts to belt-tighten without being belted by voters, a national survey reveals a 38 percentage point plunge in the proportion of people concerned they will be in the red as a result of the 2015 Budget, when compared to reactions to the 2014 fiscal blueprint.

The ME Bank Household Financial Comfort Report, based on a poll of 1500 Australians, finds 29 per cent expect the 2015 Budget will have a negative effect on their financial situation over the 12 months, down from 67 per cent after last year’s budget.

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https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/28677153/budget-at-risk/

New warning: Budget at risk

Exclusive Shane Wright Economics Editor

July 6, 2015, 12:55 am

The Abbott Government’s own independent fiscal cop fears the Federal Budget has been built on rosy assumptions that put the nation at risk of never running a surplus in the next decade.

As the Government that pledged to tackle Australia’s “debt and deficit” crisis prepares this week to set its own $100 billion debt milestone, the Parliamentary Budget Office has warned some of the most important assumptions underpinning Treasurer Joe Hockey’s second Budget are already at risk just a few days into the new financial year.

When Tony Abbott took office in September 2013, the amount of debt the Government had to repay was $273 billion.

Promising to tackle government spending, Mr Abbott recently told Liberal Party faithful that the nation’s prosperity over coming years would not be built on “debt and deficits”.

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http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/budget-facing-multibillion-dollar-hit-after-record-fall-in-iron-ore-prices-20150709-gi8cmn.html

Budget facing multi-billion dollar hit after record fall in iron ore prices

Date July 10, 2015

Gareth Hutchens

The Abbott government is facing the possibility of a multi-billion dollar hit to budget revenues after the global iron ore price collapsed overnight.

It means Treasurer Joe Hockey's budget repair task could become even tougher, after he endured a $20 billion write-down in forecast tax collections in May.

The global iron ore price plummeted to $US44 a tonne this week - the lowest for recent records - with Australia's major iron ore producers exporting the commodity in record volumes despite weak global demand for it.

The precipitous fall in the price of iron ore has added to a sense of panic in global markets, with China's stock market in seeming freefall and Greece's banking system seizing up after its government defaulted on a multi-billion euro loan from the International Monetary Fund last week.

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http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/federal-politicians-spend-500000-on-australian-flags--but-tony-abbott-does-not-buy-one-20150709-gi91zv.html

Federal politicians spend $500,000 on Australian flags - but Tony Abbott does not buy one

Date July 9, 2015

Kate Aubusson

Federal politicians spent over half a million dollars on Australian flags in the second half of 2014, according to parliamentary records.

If the quantity of flags were a reliable indicator of patriotism, Liberal MP John Alexander and his Bennelong electorate would be awash with national pride, topping the flag spending tally on $17,949, according to the Australian Financial Review.

Bob Katter is the second most fair-dinkum MP with a flag spend of $13,320 and National MP Bruce Scott comes in third on $12,236.

"I'm utterly ashamed of myself that I was number two. I have a lot of work to do," Mr Katter said.

The $502,000 spend on flags coincided with the national terrorism alert level rising to high over IS threats, high-profile terrorist raids in Brisbane and Sydney and the Lindt Cafe siege in Martin Place.

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Health Budget Issues.

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2015/07/08/federal-health-budget-review-there-is-a-failure-to-realise-that-health-is-central-to-the-well-being-and-wealth-of-individuals-and-nations/

Federal health budget review: ” There is a failure to realise that health is central to the well-being and wealth of individuals and nations”

Michelle Hughes | Jul 08, 2015 12:02PM | EMAIL | PRINT

Many thanks to Dr Lesley Russell for this insightful analysis of the federal health budget.

Dr Russell writes:

Every year since 2007 I have done a detailed analysis of the health provisions in the federal budget.  I do this in the light of current and past strategies, policies, programs and funding and support my work, where possible, by data drawn from Medicare, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, reports and published papers.

It’s become an increasingly difficult task and, as was the case last year, this year’s analysis has been delayed as I have spent endless hours trying to sort out what is going on. The budget papers are even more impenetrable than those from 2014-15, provisions in the Budget have already changed as the Abbott Government struggles to sell its policies, and new announcements have been made in the weeks since the Budget was released.

The impacts of the 2015-16 budget must be assessed in light of the previous Budget, which casts a long shadow.  Australians’ health and wellbeing depends not just on their ability to access quality and affordable healthcare services when they need them, but on a range of other services, of which education, employment, social justice and welfare supports are the most important.

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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/health-insurers-fly-solo-in-talks/story-e6frg8zx-1227432978044

Health insurers fly solo in talks

• The Australian
• July 08, 2015 12:00AM

Sarah-Jane Tasker

Australia’s private insurers, set to start negotiations on next year’s premium increases, are concerned about the process under its new regulator, with warnings it could become politicised.

The new regime under the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority faces a key test, with private health insurers losing an advocate that represented their annual premium increase submissions to the health minister.

The Private Health Insurance Administration Council has been dissolved and the financial regulator will now supervise the sector. But APRA has said it will not take on the role of representing companies in annual premium increase talks.

PHIAC’s role, which was only introduced a few years ago after complaints from both sides about the process, was to assess the first round of submissions from insurers and provide advice to the minister. PHIAC would take applications from each fund and test the figures against their own financial models — actuarial calculations similar to what each fund would do, from an actuarial sense — and use that position of knowledge to query any discrepancies.

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http://www.afr.com/business/health/medibank-private-washes-hands-of-calvarys-dying-20150709-gi8che

• Jul 10 2015 at 12:15 AM
• Updated Jul 10 2015 at 5:23 AM

Medibank Private washes hands of Calvary's dying

by Jessica Gardner

Strong-arm tactics by Medibank Private to reduce its hospital costs may push dying patients and the chronically ill on to the struggling public system.

Medibank, which was privatised by the Abbott government in a $5.7 billion float last November, said last week it had dumped Catholic operator Calvary Health Care as a supplier after contract renegotiations broke down. 

Calvary chief executive Mark Doran said Medibank was acting unreasonably. His concerns have been supported by four other private hospital executives, who have also questioned Medibank's tactics and demands. 

"They are dictating and are not prepared to negotiate on any reasonable set of terms," Mr Doran told Fairfax Media.

About every two years insurers and hospitals embark on negotiations over what the insurer should pay for care, such as a night in a rehabilitation bed or a hip replacement.

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Medicare Locals (RIP).

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/croakey/2015/07/05/medicare-locals-and-the-future-of-primary-health-care-research/

Medicare Locals and the future of primary health care research

Jennifer Doggett | Jul 05, 2015 11:50PM | EMAIL | PRINT

The 30^th of June saw the end of Medicare Locals, the primary health care bodies that evolved from Divisions of General Practice and were recommended by the Rudd Government’s National Primary Healthcare Strategy.

After only four years (at most) of operation, these organisations had yet to reach their potential but many had made promising gains in the areas of consumer engagement, population health planning and chronic disease management.  

Hopefully these gains will not be lost in the transition to the next evolution of primary health care meta-organisations, Primary Health Networks.

In a statement this week, Walter Kmet, CEO of one of the new Primary Health Networks, WentWest, made it clear that his organisation will be building on its previous achievements as a Medicare Local, “As an organisation committed to improving the health of western Sydney, we will continue to work with General Practitioners, Allied Health Professionals, our long-standing partners and numerous other not for profit organisations to fulfil our responsibilities and focus on the common health priorities”.

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Pharmacy Issues.

http://ajp.com.au/news/new-revenue-streams-wider-role-key-now-6cpa-is-underway-quilty/

New revenue streams, wider role key now 6CPA is underway: Quilty

Megan Haggan — 08/07/2015

With the Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement signed and now operating, now’s the time to consider how to enhance the role of community pharmacies in the wider health system, Guild executive director David Quilty writes in this week’s edition of Forefront.

“The safe dispensing of medicines will continue to be the core business of pharmacies,” he writes.

“The 6CPA ensures that dispensing remuneration is maintained in real terms for the next five years and is already delivering tangible benefits to Australia’s 5,450 community pharmacies.

“However, the 6CPA outcome does not change the fact that pharmacies must secure new revenue streams in order to grow and prosper, and enable their highly trained staff to practice at the top of their profession to the maximum benefit of their patients.”

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http://ajp.com.au/news/choice-report-exposes-ideologically-driven-claims-against-pharmacy/

Choice report exposes ideologically-driven claims against pharmacy: Guild

Megan Haggan — 09/07/2015

The Pharmacy Guild has welcomed a report from Choice released today titled ‘A better deal on drugs’ comparing pharmacies and supermarkets on price, range and value in relation to a number of common over-the-counter medicine categories.

The report found that pharmacies are very price competitive and “equalled or beat supermarkets on price when comparing brand for brand.”

Guild Executive Director, David Quilty says that the report found that pharmacies were not only as cheap if not cheaper than supermarkets in many medicine categories, but they also provided a wider range of brands and pack sizes.

“Importantly, the report found that pharmacies, unlike supermarkets, provided customers with health related advice and assistance, when they were purchasing these medicines,” Quilty says.

“This report exposes the ideologically-driven claims that community pharmacy is not competitive.

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It is going to be very interesting to see what happens to the polls and consumer confidence over the next 2-3 months. With the pollies away in their electorates things should be stable for a while. Last week, probably because of issues and Greece, China etc. it just fell of a cliff!

Enjoy.

David.

It Looks Like The Issues Surrounding EPAS at The New Royal Adelaide Hospital Continue To Cause Concern.

These appeared last week. First this…

New Royal Adelaide Hospital faces a dud IT system, surgeons say

• July 02, 2015 9:29PM
• MEDICAL REPORTER BRAD CROUCH

THE troubled $422 million IT system that is meant to run the new Royal Adelaide Hospital is “disastrous”, according to surgeons who have rejected State Government assurances that all is well.

The usually conservative Royal Australasian College of Surgeons has warned it could not guarantee patient safety under the planned system because of problems that include doctors being prevented from prescribing essential medicines.

SA Health’s planned Enterprise Patient Administration System (EPAS) was supposed to be introduced to hospitals across the state but is now in just three, including the Repatriation General Hospital – where medical staff have officially complained to Health Minister Jack Snelling because it is compromising patient safety.

The new RAH has been designed to operate solely with EPAS and there is no space for a paper-based records system.

This week, Auditor-General Andrew Richardson said the long-delayed IT system, which has blown out in cost, faces more blowouts. SA Health chief executive David Swan responded with assurances that EPAS would be operational in time for next year’s opening of the new RAH.

However, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons said there was “still a long way to go” before they would trust EPAS. College SA chair Dr Sonja Latzel said the feedback she had received on EPAS was not positive. She added: “Mr Swan’s comments contradict what surgeons are telling us.

More here:

http://www.news.com.au/national/new-royal-adelaide-hospital-faces-a-dud-it-system-surgeons-say/story-e6frfkp9-1227425913916

Then this very detailed and interesting article:

eHealth delays threaten new Royal Adelaide Hospital

Friday, July 3, 2015 - 11:02

Promised as a flagbearer for the brave new world of eHealth when it opens in April 2016, the $1.85 billion new Royal Adelaide Hospital (nRAH) will instead have to cope with a “hybrid” environment including paper records and workflow due to delays in a decade long program to implement a state-wide electronic health record.

Promoted as Australia's most advanced hospital, the nRAH is also facing supply chain issues due to SA Health’s a failure to complete a long running rollout of Oracle, initially commenced in 2010.

A report from the South Australian Auditor General handed to the Parliament this week says a 10 year, S214 million program commenced in 2007 to deliver a state-wide Enterprise Patient Administration System (EPAS) had “ambitious timeframes and an under estimation and lack of detailed understanding of the effort required. In particular, the underestimation of effort required to implement EPAS at a major hospital site.

“Although Audit has noted a number of improvements to the EPAS Program, challenges still
remain, including ensuring system readiness for the nRAH by 17 January 2016 for SOC
testing and commercial acceptance on 17 April 2016.”

All ICT for the nRAH systems must have testing completed prior to 17 January 2016, ready for State Operational Commissioning (SOC) involving testing of all new hospital operations ready for commercial acceptance.

In 2007, the state’s Department of Health (now Department for Health and Ageing) awarded a contract to Allscripts Healthcare Solutions Inc. (Allscripts) for the EPAS solution.

Initially scheduled for completion in mid-2014, this deadline has not been met and SA Health is due to report to Parliament in coming weeks on when this can be expected. Intended to be deployed state-wide by 2014, it has reportedly been successfully installed at just three hospitals.

While it was initially scheduled to be rolled out to the existing RAH in mid-2014, a decision has been made to not go ahead with this, although this has not yet been approved by Cabinet.

Lots more here:

http://idm.net.au/article/0010522-ehealth-delays-threaten-new-royal-adelaide-hospital

You can read the full audit online HERE

What to say? It really looks like the SA Government has put all its money on red and if the EPAS project and all the associated integration does not work they will be major loosers.

Another project to keep a very close eye on.

David.

Article Draft For Comment - It Seems That The National E-Health Project In Australia Has Arrived In The ‘ Last Chance Saloon’.

Australia has been working at / toying with the implementation of a National E-Health Record System for at least the last fifteen years. This has been since the release of the National Health Information Action Plan for Australia in late 1999. The mission of the plan was as follows:

“To improve the delivery of health care and achieve better quality of care and health outcomes through effective and innovative use of health information”

You can download a summary of that document (and many others) from this link:

http://ozhealthithistory.wikispaces.com/file/view/summary.pdf/182744435/summary.pdf

The summary of what was being envisaged way back in 1999 makes very interesting reading indeed (p11)!

What will the Australian health care system look like in the future?

So what might the Australian health care system look like in the future? If firm foundations are laid and if the projects mapped out in Health Online are implemented, then Australia’s future health care system could look like the following:

• consumers and providers, wherever they are located (in the city or the country), will have on-line access to clinical records, clinical advice, specialist referrals, diagnostic tests and results, and other telehealth services;
• consumers will have the opportunity to provide general practitioners, specialists, hospitals (public and private) and other health providers with access to information on their clinical histories held in comprehensive lifetime electronic health records (to which consumers themselves would also have access), with appropriate regard to security, privacy and the appropriate use and disclosure of data;
• there will be a seamless delivery of care for the consumer with the right information being available at the time and place where care is delivered — and with greater integration and exchange between health and community sectors;
• relevant information from medical records will be integrated with clinical decision-support systems;
• consumers and providers will have ready, electronic access to information to support informed choices among potential treatments and so provide better quality health service at the time and point of delivery;
• consumers, providers and managers will have access to high quality data for performance information development for benchmarking and quality improvement purposes;
• all providers will be linked with the key funders of the system (such as private health insurance funds and the Health Insurance Commission) to enable online, real-time transactions, including forwarding referral information and pharmaceutical prescriptions;
• data will be gathered as a by-product of operational systems to support research into improved promotion, prevention and treatment, and to provide a foundation for public health initiatives generally, while at the same time maintaining privacy and confidentiality; and
• consumers, providers, health care organisations and governments will have access to data that enable measurement of quality of care and health outcomes to inform treatment choices and policy development.”

Fast forward fifteen years and where are we, and just how far have we moved down the agenda outlined so long ago?

After the false start of HealthConnect Program in the noughties - which was essentially abandoned when Joe Hockey told Tony Abbott it might cost a billion dollars, in the 2010 Budget the then Health Minister (Nicola Roxon) announced a Personally Controlled National E-Health Record (the PCEHR). This was to go live in 2012 - as it duly did - to a fairly complete lack of interest from both consumers and providers - after many hundreds of millions of dollars were spent. The lack of use, and interest in the system, led to a review by the incoming Abbott Government in 2013. The review then led (for very unclear reasons) to the commitment of nearly another $500 million to be spent in the next three years from 2015 to operate what had been developed and to, by compulsion, essentially force every citizen to have a record within the PCEHR, subject to some trials for this ‘opt-out’ (of having a record approach). The rationale for this approach was that if everyone had a record clinicians and consumers would all then be keen to use the system, as there would be some information to see were the record to be consulted.

As of the time of writing planning for the trials - to cost $50M are underway and submissions have just closed (early July, 2015), with some pretty concerned responses, on the enabling legislation to create an electronic health record for everyone who is not quick enough, or conscious enough, to opt out of this happening to them.

Late last year Deloitte consulted with a wide range of stakeholders about views on the PCEHR and at least one finding is totally congruent with the fate that has been met by my )and others) Submissions over the years on this topic. Deloitte reported (p20) the following:

“Some stakeholders feel that input they have provided in the past has largely been ignored. There is also an impost on provider’s time which tends to be uncompensated, this becomes an issue when stakeholders feel their advice and experience is having little impact.”

Here is the link:

http://health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/17BF043A41D470A9CA257E13000C9322/$File/Report%20-%20Consultation%20on%20PCEHR%20Review%20Recommendations%20-%20Sep2014.pdf

With this background we get to the title of this short piece (Last Chance Saloon) . Governments of both persuasions and largely the same bureaucrats have been working(?) on National e-Health (and a National e-Health Record) for over 15 years, have spent a fortune and are still trying to work out how to get it right at further expense for the long suffering taxpayer. All the evidence I have seen indicates they don’t listen to feedback - even when it is seriously well informed and responsible - and worse they have, in the most recent consultation round, seemingly kept important research from those responding to the most recent request for submissions.

It is my stong view that iff stakeholders do not see comprehensive, well considered and reasonable responses to the significant issues raised this time (June 2015) that it is unlikely stakeholder trust and interest in such projects can ever be recovered. Bluntly, most involved are sick of having bureaucrats simply ignore their contributions for no good reason.

Here is a link to the consultation page and some responses:

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/some-intelligent-and-hardly.html

This recent poll of the engaged specialist readers of my blog illustrates the level of cynicism:

AusHealthIT Poll Number 278 – Results – 12th July, 2015.

Do You Believe The Government Is Serious About Conducting The Opt-Out Trials For The PCEHR Or That The Outcome is Pre-Determined And They Will Just Go Ahead?

They Will Publish And Take Notice Of The Results 3% (4)

They Will Just Proceed To Opt-Out 82% (108)

The Trials Won't Actually Work Or Be Evaluated 9% (12)

I Have No Idea 1% (1)

Other Answer Not Covered Above 5% (6)

Total votes: 131

Conclusion: Seems a very large majority think any input from stakeholders and the public will just be ignored.

----- End Poll.

It is thus vital, if we are not to throw huge sums of good money after bad, that the Department of e-Health Branch starts listening to expert and experienced advice and acting on it. If they do not we will be condemned to another 15 years of grand sounding ideas and hardly any progress on the ground. That this has gone on so long with so little progress just beggars belief!

Use of Health Information Technology, sensibly and based on evidence, can make a major positive difference to our health system. What is needed to realise that promise is dramatically improved leadership and governance (as well as a broad range of skills which are presently ignored), otherwise all hope seems lost.

Weekly Australian Health IT Links – 13th July, 2015.

Here are a few I have come across the last week or so.

Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.

General Comment

A very quiet week again.

The big issue over the next month or so will be just what the DoH does with the very thoughtful submissions on the updated PCEHR Legislation.

These links get a good range of views.

http://aushealthit.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/some-intelligent-and-hardly.html

http://www.agedcare.org.au/campaigns/acsa-submissions/acsa-submissions-2015/personally-controlled-electronic-health-record

http://www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/library/eHealth%20Records%20and%20HI%20Legislation%20Discussion%20Paper%2024%20June%202015.pdf

http://www.cha.org.au/images/CHA_Ehealth_feedback_24June2015_Edit.pdf

http://www.osteopathy.org.au/data/Policy_Docs/2015/Electronic_Health_Records_and_Healthcare_Identifiers_Legislation_Discussion_Paper.pdf

If you know of others let me know!

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http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/defence-medical-records-sent-to-china-in-security-breach-20150707-gi6xb7.html

Defence medical records sent to China in security breach

Date July 7, 2015 - 8:00PM

David Wroe

National security correspondent

EXCLUSIVE

Eye test records and personal contact details of hundreds of military personnel including soldiers posted overseas were sent to China in a significant data security breach, Fairfax Media has learnt.

The records, which included in many cases mobile phone numbers of personnel, were sent to a processing facility in China's Guangdong province by a health contractor, Luxottica Retail Australia.

The personnel affected are understood to have included soldiers posted overseas to Afghanistan and special forces commandos who went on to be deployed to Iraq.

Luxottica had its contract terminated last year, a fact both Defence and its principal healthcare contractor, Medibank Health Solutions, announced in statements, admitting that records had been sent offshore. However, neither of those statements acknowledged that China was a destination for the data.

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http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/patients-turn-to-electrical-implants-to-relieve-chronic-pain-20150710-gi9doe.html

Patients turn to electrical implants to relieve chronic pain

Date July 11, 2015 - 1:20AM

Julia Medew, Health Editor

Electricity a 'game changer' in pain management

Jeanette Ryan has suffered from chronic, debilitating pain in her back and legs since a car accident four years ago. For two weeks back in March, doctors managed to give her significant relief.

More people are having electrical implants put into their spines to try to control debilitating pain as "bioelectrics" start to rival drugs for many afflictions.

Last year, about 1000 Australians with chronic pain had neurostimulation treatment, which involves an implant delivering electrical pulses to their spinal cord to disrupt the way their nerves process pain.

While the technology has been used for decades, anaesthetists who specialise in pain medicine say the devices have improved dramatically in recent years, providing life-changing results for some people with fewer side effects.

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http://www.cio.com/article/2945197/healthcare/healthcare-needs-more-it-security-pros-stat.html

Healthcare needs more IT security pros – stat

Technology is bringing amazing changes to the healthcare industry, but it’s also bringing the need for more IT security professionals. What’s causing this lack of talent and if you’re a security pro, how can you land a job in this growing field?

By Sarah K. White

CIO | Jul 8, 2015 3:00 AM PT

The healthcare industry is in need of IT security experts to help manage the fast-paced growth of technology in the field. With the implementation of electronic medical records (EMRs) and electronic health records (EHR), data analytics, wearables, and health-monitoring devices, healthcare facilities are scrambling to catch up with the demand for staff to manage and support these technological advances.

While technology is delivering more effective and streamlined healthcare, it also increases the need to focus on privacy and security.

"EMR installations at U.S. hospitals, fueled by federal incentives, have been a major catalyst for IT job growth in healthcare. Many of our hospital and health system clients have seen their IT departments grow by 50 percent in the past few years," says Brad Elster, president of Healthcare IT Leaders.

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http://www.zdnet.com/article/mater-health-stabilises-application-environment-with-vdi-upgrade/

Mater Health stabilises application environment with VDI upgrade

Mater Health Services has launched into several projects, including working with Citrix to upgrade its virtual desktop infrastructure, and moving from Windows XP to Windows 7.

By Aimee Chanthadavong | July 9, 2015 -- 02:30 GMT (12:30 AEST) | Topic: Enterprise Software

When Microsoft announced that it was going to end support for Windows XP, many enterprises using the platform were left scrambling. One of these was Mater Health Services, which is currently approaching the halfway mark of moving its 2,200 desktops across to Windows 7.

Mater Health Services CIO Steven Parish told ZDNet that if it weren't for Microsoft's decision, the business would likely have continued using XP.

"Healthcare is traditionally quite behind the times when it comes to the adoption of technology, especially with upgrades. We would only upgrade from XP to Windows 7 because we have to, otherwise it's still working; if it's not broke, don't need to fix it," he said.

With many of the Australian hospital's 2,000 applications being custom, Parish said a key challenge has been trying to work with vendors to ensure that the applications would be compatible with Windows 7, such as some existing web-based applications that will only work on Internet Explorer 8.

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http://www.news.com.au/national/northern-territory/online-blog-exposing-culture-of-bullying-in-nt-health-department/story-fnn3gfdo-1227437913799

Online blog exposing culture of bullying in NT health department

• July 11, 2015 1:57PM
• JILL POULSEN
• NT News

AN online blog has emerged highlighting bullying in the NT health department.

The website claims to be run by a group of employees who refer to themselves as the “mister men” and is made up of “clinicians from different ­disciplines”.

“We have been cataloguing incidents of injustice and bullying by the management at the Department of Health for just under a year,” the group said via email.

“For clinicians to take this kind of action reveals a breakdown in confidence with the management of the health department ... we have seen many good colleagues attacked and destroyed by the health department management. It is time for affirmative action.”

The site recorded more than 7000 hits in 10 days.

Department of Health HR director Raelene Burke said there was nothing wrong with employees engaging in online commentary.

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http://www.computerworld.com.au/article/579381/baptistcare-looks-future-networking-rollout/?fp=16&fpid=1

BaptistCare looks to future with networking rollout

Aged care provider signs limited lifetime warranty with HP

Hamish Barwick (Computerworld) on 10 July, 2015 13:12

New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory aged care provider BaptistCare is rolling out networking switches and dual radio access points across three new sites to provide gigabit mobile connections for staff and residents.

The first site in Point Clare on the NSW Central Coast will be completed in stages, with the first stage finalised in 2015. A site in Griffith, ACT opens in mid-2015 followed by a Kellyville, NSW site in 2016.

BaptistCare selected HP networking switches and dual radio access points. Approximately 4000 staff and 1800 residents will have access to the mobile connections.

The aged care provider was already using HP servers and decided to look at the vendor’s networking offerings.

The contract includes a voice management system that allows the nearest carer or nurse to respond to a resident by clicking a badge worn around their neck.

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http://ehealthspace.org/news/clinicians-come-together-tackle-problems-aging-population

Clinicians come together to tackle the problems of an aging population

Posted Thu, 09/07/2015 - 11:20 by Josh Gliddon

IBM is set to host a Hackathon in conjunction with HealthXL in a bid to come up with innovative solutions for an aging Australian population.

Around 150 people are involved, said Annette Hicks, IBM Health Industry Lead. “It’s definitely over-subscribed,” she told eHealthspace.org in an interview.

“There is a lot of interest, from clinicians to people working in ICT who see that healthcare has some complex problems that technology can help address,” she said.

The Hackathon is being held between July 10 and 12, and is located at the Carlton Connect Initiative in Melbourne. The CCI is an innovation precinct anchored by the University of Melbourne, and is designed to being people working in different disciplines together to help solve difficult challenges across a range of scientific disciplines.

The aim of the Hackathon is to address several specific problems associated with aging in Australia. These include dementia, social isolation, physical inactivity and social isolation. According to statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australia’s aging population is expected to increase significantly over the coming decades. The population aged over 75 is expected to rise by 4 million between 2012 and 2060, increasing from 6.4 per cent to 14.4 per cent of the population.

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http://www.pharmacynews.com.au/News/Latest-news/A-bad-reaction

A bad reaction

6 July, 2015 Chris Brooker

Almost all medication-related adverse drug reactions are preventable and predictable and could be avoided with better reporting and e-health systems, experts believe.

Pharmacy researchers from Charles Darwin University, NT and Charles Sturt University NSW, examined 150 recorded hospital admissions for adverse drug reactions in which patients had a National Inpatient Medication Chart.

Almost all (97%) of these admissions were judged by the authors to be preventable. In addition, 82% of the 150 admissions were regarded as being predictable.

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http://www.cmo.com.au/article/579291/telstra-new-ceo-customers-must-heart-everything-we-do/

Telstra's new CEO: Customers must be at the heart of everything we do

Andrew Penn, the telco's former CFO and the new CEO following the departure of David Thodey, reiterates his commitment to customer through technology and services innovation and announces more investment into network infrastructure

• Nadia Cameron (CMO)

Telstra’s newly installed CEO, Andrew Penn, has reiterated the telco’s commitment to putting the customer at the heart of everything the company does during his first official speech since being appointed.

The CEO, who is speaking at today’s Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) lunch, used the opportunity to outline his priorities as Telstra’s new chief, as well as announce further investment into the telco’s core network infrastructure over 2016 and 2017.

Penn, Telstra’s former CFO and group executive for international, was appointed CEO following the departure of David Thodey earlier this year. Thodey was credited as the man driving the telco’s customer transformation and turnaround over recent years.

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http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/latest-news/telstra-telehealth-scheme-a-rival-to-gps-ama

Telstra telehealth scheme a rival to all GPs: AMA

Serkan Ozturk | July 8, 2015 | 30 comments

The AMA has accused Telstra of setting up in competition with every GP in the country following the launch of its new telehealth system.

ReadyCare, which was rolled out last week, allows members of the public to consult a GP by making a video or telephone call to a 1800 number for a fee of $69 plus GST.

There are no Medicare rebates for the service at present.

The 24/7 service is staffed by doctors taking calls in a dedicated telehealth centre in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria.

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http://www.australiandoctor.com.au/news/latest-news/gps-and-oz-doc-top-list-of-twitter-influencers

GPs and Oz Doc top list of Twitter influencers

9 July, 2015 Serkan Ozturk

A number of individual GPs and Australian Doctor have been highlighted as among the most influential Twitter users in the health and medical fields. 

A list analysing the top 10 Australian Twitter accounts in health and medicine has been compiled by University of Sydney public health researchers Professor Simon Chapman and Dr Becky Freeman.

The researchers took a look at the leading Twitter accounts and spilt them into four subgroups:  

• individuals with a multifocus on health, such as GPs
• individual with a single health focus, such as fitness or sugar
• politicians, official agencies and health-related charities
• journalists and the media who report on health issues

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http://www.fool.com.au/2015/07/08/why-analytica-limited-shares-were-slammed-29-today/

Why Analytica Limited shares were slammed 29% today

By Ryan Newman - July 8, 2015 | More on: ALT

Shares of Analytica Limited (ASX: ALT) have been smashed by the market today after the company emerged from a trading halt, announcing a material capital raising. The stock plunged 29.4% to a low of 1.2 cents, compared to a 1.1% decline for the benchmark ALL ORDINARIES (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO).

Analytica is a micro-cap business whose lead product is the PeriCoach System – an e-health treatment system designed to strengthen the pelvic floor muscle for women who suffer Stress Urinary Incontinence. It then gives feedback to the user via a smart phone.

Although the potential for such a system is enormous, there are also a number of challenges including the difficulty of marketing (it’s unlikely to gain traction via word-of-mouth) while smart-phone usage is also far less prevalent amongst older generations.

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http://www.asx.com.au/asxpdf/20150702/pdf/42zkwksxw7g2h0.pdf

1stAvailable

1stAvailable (ASX: 1st) and Digital Health Ventures (a company 50% owned by NIB) have partnered to provide an online booking engine. Under the partnership, 1stAvailable’s online healthcare search and appointment booking service will be used by healthcare providers through Whitecoat.com.au - an online directly of healthcare providers and moderated customer reviews.

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http://telemedc.com/

TeleMedC

TeleMedC is developing the next generation ophthalmic diagnostic imaging systems for face-to-face and virtual medical consultations, screening, monitoring and health prevention purposes for remote & urban communities.

During its first phase of the development TeleMedC will focus, primarily, on building low cost multipurpose ophthalmologic imaging hardware and smart grading systems for anterior segment and retinal diseases.

TeleMedC's long term goal is to become a leader in providing consumer based ocular image reading for sight treating eye and chronic diseases such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease and stroke.

…..

After achieving successful results in Australia, CSIRO has licensed their Remote-I technology to a Silicon Valley spin-off TeleMedC, who plans to take the technology to the US and world market as part of its 'EyeScan' diagnostic solution. The Remote-I platform works by capturing high-resolution images of a patient's retina with a low-cost retinal camera, which are then uploaded over satellite broadband by a local health worker. Remote-I has been used with over 1000 patients from the Torres Strait Islands and southern Western Australia where 68 patients at risk of going blind were identified, including those with macula odema.

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http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/ibm-claims-prototype-for-tiny-computer-chip-20150709-gi979c

IBM claims prototype for tiny computer chip

Date July 10, 2015 - 8:51AM

Michelle Davis

International Business Machines has developed a computer chip that's smaller and has more capacity than anything currently on the market, the company said on Thursday.

The 7 nanometre test chip with working transistors is the industry's smallest, the company said in a statement. The microprocessors that power servers currently being used are made with 14 or 22 nanometre production.

IBM no longer manufactures its own chips. The company has in the past made prior claims of technical leadership in semiconductors. Those assertions, however, haven't produced positive business results. IBM's chip unit lost money forcing the company to pay Globalfoundries to take over its production operations.

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Enjoy!

David.